Posts Tagged ‘ron dermer’

The official Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration held at the Israeli Embassy in the United States took place on Thursday evening, April 23.

The special guest of honor at the 67th anniversary of Israel’s declaration of independence was U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

While many people scratched their heads over why Biden was at the event, those people seem to have forgotten that prior to being yoked to his current boss, Biden was considered a reliably pro-Israel U.S. Senator from the Democratic party.

The presence of such a high level representative of the U.S. government at the Israeli Embassy’s Independence Day celebration is also significant because of the extremely bad blood between the personalities of the leadership on both sides.

Ron Dermer, the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. and the host of the event is viewed with at least as much displeasure as is Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and for the same reasons, by this White House.

Both Israelis refuse to humble themselves or their nation to the dictates of this U.S. administration which has incessantly called for life-threatening concessions to the enemies surrounding it.

Dermer, a long-time and essential aide to Netanyahu, is clearly a thorn in the side of the U.S. administration. In its official editorial, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz – widely read by those who loathe Israel, but with only a tiny readership in Israel -just last week called on Netanyahu to fire Dermer.

The Haaretz editorial stated as unqualified fact – which it presumably would not do without confirmation from senior White House officials – that:

Obama’s associates, headed by National Security Advisor Susan Rice and chief of staff Denis McDonough, are ignoring Dermer. A meeting between him and Obama himself is out of the question.

So having the Vice President of the United States show up for Israel’s birthday celebration was surely seen as a way to show both the American and Israeli people that strong bonds of friendship still exist between the two nations.

Biden was at his most Bidenesque at the D.C. Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration. Which was a problem.

As soon as he started speaking, audience members began to squirm.

Obviously not realizing the sensitivity Jews have to the dangers of intermarriage, Biden proudly told everyone assembled: “Two of my three children married Jews.”

One woman who was at the celebration told the JewishPress.com that she was sitting between one woman who was the child of a Holocaust survivor and her own husband, who is also the child of a Holocaust survivor.

“Their expressions, when Biden talked – at length – about two of his Catholic children marrying Jews, was pained.”

But Biden, oblivious to the palpable discomfort, told everyone assembled that the “dream of every Irish Catholic father is for his daughter to marry a Jewish surgeon.”

Biden then went on to describe the negotiations when his daughter married a Jewish surgeon from New Jersey. He talked about how his daughter, Ashley, was to be married in the oldest Catholic Church in Delaware, but they also had a rabbi present at the church who co-officiated in the wedding.

The Vice President also explained that when the music for the wedding was chosen, he suggested a particular hymn be played as the newly-married couple left the church, but his daughter instead requested that the hora be played.

President Obama has again pushed off a potential meeting with PM Netanyahu.

The NY Times reported on Thursday that President Obama informed a group of American leaders on April 13th that he would only meet with Netanyahu after negotiations with Iran were over. Obama is afraid that Netanyahu would publicly criticize the Iran deal if they met before the negotiations were over.

If the NY Times had read JewishPress.com, they would have known that this is the second time Obama has delayed a Netanyahu meeting since the Israeli elections ended.

This latest report pushes off that potential meeting off by at least an additional month and a half.

On the other hand, despite reports that Ron Dermer, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, is persona non grata in the White House, and that Obama wants a different Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer is hosting Vice President Joe Biden at Israel’s Independence Day bash in Washington D.C., which some are interpreting as an attempt by the administration to mend fences with the Netanyahu government, or at least reduce the tension.

A source in the Prime Minister’s office said that PM Netanyahu is not planning to replace Israel’s Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, according to Galey Tzahal.

The Obama administration, besides their open dislike for Netanyahu, apparently aren’t enamored by Ambassador Ron Dermer either, and the administration has purportedly demanded that Netanyahu replace him.

The source was responding to the rumors that Dermer would instead be made Ambassador to the UN, and either Yuval Steinitz or Ron Prosor would replace him.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, warned a cable news interviewer on Sunday that it pays to pay attention “when Israelis and Arabs are on the same page” about the threat to the region presented by Iran. Dermer was speaking to CNN about last week’s speech to the U.S. Congress by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, which ruffled more than a few feathers in the Obama administration.

Nevertheless, Israel’s military intelligence chief is slated to visit the United States this week. Major-General Hertzi HaLevy is scheduled to meet with U.S. defense officials, although it is not clear whether he will also meet with newly-appointed Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. HaLevy, who was appointed in September, will also attend a fundraiser for Israel. The visit has been described as routine.

Last week Netanyahu warned lawmakers about the dangers to Israel from the deal being negotiated by the U.S. and world powers with Tehran over its nuclear development program.

On Sunday, CNN‘s Michael Smerconish interviewed Dermer on the State of the Union program about reaction to the prime minister’s speech. “Well, hindsight is always 20/20 and we regret very much that there was a perception, a partisanship before the speech,” Dermer said.

“That was the last thing we wanted to do was inject Israel into your partisan debate. Israel has always been above politics in the United States and it’s important for the U.S./Israeli alliance that it remained above politics and the prime minister made that clear in his speech on Tuesday.”

Dermer underlined, however, that the prime minister meant what he said when he told Congressional lawmakers that Israel is prepared to stand alone if necessary:

“What he is saying is that Israel always reserves the right to defend itself. We have in Iran a regime that threatens Israel with annihilation and that works every day in order to destroy Israel.

“They have surrounded Israel with three terror tentacles in the north in Lebanon through Hezbollah, on the Syrian Golan. They have maybe a couple of thousand of Iranians who are there now through Hamas and Islamic jihad in Gaza.

“So, you have these three terror tentacles around Israel and Iran is vowing to annihilate Israel and we cannot accept the situation where Iran would develop a nuclear weapon to achieve that goal.

“But understand it’s not just a threat to Israel, it’s a threat to the region and it’s a threat to the world,” Dermer pointed out.

“What’s interesting, Michael, is that Israelis and Arabs are on exactly the same page when it comes to the Iranian issue. And when Israelis and Arabs are on the same page, people should pay attention. That happens about once a century.”

Well, these are the easy ones. How about Colorado? Indiana? I think I got it. Montana?Texas?

You’re here in record numbers. You’re here from coast to coast,from every part of this great land. And you’re here at a critical time. You’re here to tell the world that reports of the demise of the Israeli-U.S. relations are not only premature, they’re just wrong.

You’re here to tell the world that our alliance is stronger than ever.

And because of you, and millions like you, across this great country, it’s going to get even stronger in the coming years.

Thank you Bob Cohen, Michael Kassen, Howard Kohr and all the leadership of AIPAC. Thank youfor your tireless, dedicated work to strengthen the partnership between Israel and the United States.

I want to thank,most especially, Members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans. I deeply appreciate your steadfast support for Israel, year in, year out. You have our boundless gratitude.

I want to welcome President Zeman of the Czech Republic.Mr. President, Israel never forgets its friends. And the Czech people have always been steadfast friends of Israel, the Jewish people, from the days of Thomas Masaryk at the inception of Zionism.

You know, Mr. President, when I entered the Israeli army in 1967, I received a Czech rifle.That was one of the rifles that was given to us by your people in our time of need in 1948. So thank you for being here today.

Also here are two great friends of Israel, former Prime Minister of Spain Jose Maria Aznar and as of last month, former Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird.Thank you both for your unwavering support. You are true champions of Israel, and you are, too, champions of the truth.

I also want to recognize the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, for your genuine friendship, Dan,and for the great job you’re doing representing the United States and the State of Israel.

And I want to recognize the two Rons. I want to thank Ambassador Ron Prosor for the exemplary job he’s doing at the U.N. in a very difficult forum.

And I want to recognize the other Ron, a man who knows how to take the heat, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer.Ron, I couldn’t be prouder to have you representing Israel in Washington.

And finally, I want to recognize my wife, Sara, whose courage in the face of adversity is an inspiration to me.Sara divides her time as a child psychologist, as a loving mother, and her public duties as the wife of the prime minister.Sara, I’m so proud to have you here with me today, to have you with me at my side always.

My friends, I bring greetings to you from Jerusalem, our eternal undivided capital.

And I also bring to you news that you may not have heard. You see, I’ll be speaking in Congress tomorrow.

You know, never has so much been written about a speech that hasn’t been given. And I’m not going to speak today about the content of that speech, but I do want to say a few words about the purpose of that speech.

First, let me clarify what is not the purpose of that speech. My speech is not intended to show any disrespect to President Obama or the esteemed office that he holds. I have great respect for both.

I deeply appreciate all that President Obama has done for Israel,security cooperation, intelligence sharing, support at the U.N., and much more, some things that I, as prime minister of Israel, cannot even divulge to you because it remains in the realm of the confidences that are kept between an American president and an Israeli prime minister.I am deeply grateful for this support, and so should you be.

Israel Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer joked about White House complaints that he breached protocol and tweeted on Sunday, “Breaking Protocol, Choosing Sides: Go Patriots.”

The Obama administration has publicly charged with Dermer for “breaking protocol” by not directly informing the administration that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will speak to Congress in March. Netanyahu is expected to use the occasion to deliver a broadside at President Obama’s insistence to veto any Congressional bill for sanctions against Iran.

Dermer has been under the gun on both sides of the Atlantic, so he used the Super Bowl as an opportunity to lighten things up a bit with his Tweet.

The Ambassador has denied he was at fault and told Jeffrey Goldberg in an interview Friday, “It was the speaker’s responsibility and normal protocol for the speaker’s office to notify the administration” that Netanyahu was invited to speak to Congress.